This smacks of urban legend, but a search of the internet yeilds few results. I’ve heard a couple times that if you’re planning an African safari, it is recommended you donate a few pints of blood to take with you in case you’re injured and need a blood transfusion.
I don’t know how long blood stays fresh, and I’m sort of skeptical that you could actually make those kind of arangements with your Primary Care Physician. Then getting it through customs? Then dragging it around with you for three weeks in the middle of Africa? Really?
However, AIDS and HIV infection rates are insanely high in much of sub-Saharan Africa, meaning if you needed a blood transfusion you’d be at dire risk of contracting the AIDS/HIV. Then again, it could be because of the scarcity of hospitals in the middle of the Serengeti. I suppose both potential reasons are valid here.
Can anyone give me the Straight Dope on this? Donating your own blood before travelling to Africa for safari: fact or fiction? It’s just plausible enough to be true, but it starts to break down when you look at it closely (sort of the hallmark of ULs).
FWIW, I did a safari in Zimbabwe & Botswana a few years ago, and no such suggestion was made.
It would be challenging to take blood with you and ensure storage such that it remained suitable for use. Some Googling suggests it must be kept at a temperature of a few degrees C, which would not be easy when on safari.
Packed RBCs can stay usable for up to 42 days, refrigerated (or less, depending on the preservative used). I used to work in one of the busiest blood banks in Canada and I’ve never heard this story before.
I’ve had nine trips to Africa, including five since 2001. I have never heard of any such thing. As a general recommendation I’m sure it’s BS. I suppose it’s possible some private company somewhere might advise this.
Read up a lot about what to take with you when Marcus Junior was planning a trip to Africa and never saw this suggestion. Its a sensible precaution to carry a kit of sterile needles and sutures (particularly if a lone traveller or trekking off the beaten track) and I’ve seen suggestions that large organised parties and expeditions should carry plasma expanders but carrying whole blood is totally impractical.
You folks kick ass. Thank you for the responses. It sounds to me like if I dug enough I could probably find some obscure reference to this, but our colelctive experience says “Nope, it’s bullshit”. Kind of what I expected.
A lot of independent travellers(Backpackers) carry their own sterile medical needles when travelling in third world countries,if they get in trouble then they ask for these to be used rather then the local ones if they require emergency injections and the like.
As they are only used on themselves it provides peace of mind.
On the other hand, since AIDS is so prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, and I don’t know how careful their blood screening is, how safe would it be to get a transfusion from a blood bank there?
My parents lived in Tanzania for most of 12 years. They had in place a contingancy plan. If they required a transfusion, and it was felt they could survive the trip, they would be flown to Germany. If it had come down to an immediate do-or-die need, they would have gotten a tranfusion there, but it was definately not prefered.
Another BS voter. I lived in Africa for three years and went on two safaris, covering S.A., Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya, and a bit of Zimbabwe. Also went trekking after gorillas in Uganda. Never heard of such a thing.
I went on a safari in Tanzania last October, and was definitely not advised to take such precautions. We did get a lot of shots beforehand, and anti-malarials, and such, (as I’m certain you’re aware of), but no blood donations or anything like that. (You probably will be barred from donating blood after you return to the States for a year, but that’s it.)